Pope's final address: God was asleep on my watch

Pope Benedict XVI gave an emotional farewell speech to tens of thousands of
faithful in St Peter’s Square, saying there were times during his eight-year
papacy “when it seemed that the Lord was sleeping.”

A day before he becomes the first pontiff to resign in nearly 600 years, Benedict acknowledged that his papacy had been rocked by “rough seas”, in an oblique reference to paedophile priest sex scandals, controversy swirling around the Vatican bank and the theft of confidential papers by his butler.

He said that by resigning he was not “coming down from the cross” — an apparent rebuke to some members of the Church, including a Polish cardinal, who contrasted his decision to resign with the dogged determination of John Paul II, his predecessor, to remain in office despite his deteriorating health.

In bright winter sunshine, the 85-year-old German Pope was driven around St Peter’s Square in a white Mercedes jeep for the last time, waving to a crowd of 150,000, who cheered, applauded and held aloft banners.

Pope Benedict arrives on his 'Popemobile' in St Peter's square for his last weekly audience (AFP/Getty Images)

The Popemobile, with the registration number SCV1 for Stato Della Citta del Vaticano (Vatican City State), drove him up an incline to a stage placed in front of the main entrance of St Peter’s Basilica.

Wearing his traditional white vestments, he told the huge crowd: “There were moments of joy and light but also moments that were not easy ... there were moments, as there were throughout the history of the Church, when the seas were rough and the wind blew against us and it seemed that the Lord was sleeping.”

As the crowds waved flags from dozens of countries, Benedict explained the reasons for his resignation, which he announced on Feb 11 in a decision that stunned the world.

“I took this step in the full knowledge of its gravity and rarity but with a profound serenity of spirit,” he said.

The worlds press on the roof of one of the two colonnades that embraces St Peter's Square (Nick Squires)

As the crowd broke into chants of “Benedetto, Benedetto”, he said: “I will continue to accompany the Church with my prayers, and I ask each of you to pray for me and for the new Pope.” He was given a standing ovation at the end of the address, with Catholic faithful waving banners which said “Grazie Santo Padre!” — Thank You Holy Father.

Swiss Guards stood either side of the platform, as around 70 cardinals in their distinctive red skull caps listened to the Pope’s final address.

They will be among 115 cardinals who will gather in a conclave in the Sistine Chapel next month to elect his successor.

The cardinals who attended the audience included several considered to have a chance of being elected the next Pope - Italy’s Angelo Bagnasco, Christoph Schoenborn of Austria, Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York and Jose Tagle, from the Philippines.

The crowds were a mixture of the Catholic faithful, including nuns, monks in cassocks and priests, and those who had come out of curiosity to witness a historic event.

“We were on holiday in Rome anyway but because of what happened with the resignation we knew we had to be here today. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity,” Edi Smith, 30, a bar manager from Harrowgate, Yorks, told The Daily Telegraph.

“Hopefully his resignation will move the Church forward with the election of someone younger, more freer thinking, who will take steps towards female priests or the acceptance that gays do exist in the world.”

Ilda De Fatima, 36, from Angola, a mother of two small children, said: “Seeing him now, his decision to step down doesn’t seem strange — he looks really tired.”

Holding a large banner reading We’ll Miss You, Mark Baumgarten, 34, an Australian trainee priest studying in Rome, said: “It’s a sad moment. His resignation was surprising obviously. “Maybe it will set a precedent — with so much new media and travel, the pressures of the modern papacy are huge.” Asked who he thought the next pope might be, he said: “That’s above my pay grade.” Benedict will hold a meeting with the cardinals on Thursday before being flown by helicopter from the Vatican to Castel Gandolfo, a summer papal residence that overlooks a volcanic lake in the hills south of Rome.

His papacy will formally come to an end at 8pm local time, when the Seat of St Peter officially becomes vacant.

The Vatican hopes to have a new Pope in place before Palm Sunday on March 24.